SEA Games 2025: A family surprise inspires fencer Amita Berthier to top of the podium

BANGKOK – First she unleashed a loud, triumphant roar, followed by a hug with teammate Maxine Wong, and then Singapore fencer Amita Berthier pointed her foil to the stands, almost like a salute.

At the end of it were her sister Aarya and brother Ashok. At the Fashion Island Shopping Mall’s Island Hall on Dec 17, her siblings celebrated her long-awaited return to the top of the SEA Games podium.

An emotional Berthier explained that her elder sister had played her part in her sensational comeback in the semi-finals of the women’s foil individual event.

At 8-14 down and on the brink of elimination, she went on to score seven consecutive points and pull off a jaw dropping 15-14 win against the Philippines’ Samantha Catantan for a spot in the final.

She said: “My brother and my sister are here... They actually surprised me. I didn’t expect anybody to be here at all. It means a lot. My sister used to fence with me.

“She used to be my training and travel buddy, so she knows me better than anyone. And the one voice I heard when I was down 14-8 was actually my sister’s.

“We’ve been through a lot together... having her here meant a lot, my brother too.”

Berthier, who turned 25 on Dec 15, now has three individual foil golds after earlier wins in 2017 and 2019.

A two-time Olympian, she missed the last two editions of the SEA Games in 2022 and 2023 as she was pursuing a sociology degree at the University of Notre Dame in the United States.

The come-from-behind semi-final victory gave her the boost needed to overcome defending champion Wong, who beat Samantha’s sister Janna Catantan of the Philippines 15-8 in her last-four bout.

The all-Singapore matchup was a repeat of the 2019 final, which Berthier also won.

“I flipped a switch and I managed to make it work. And once I finished that bout, (I knew) that the gold is mine. I didn’t come all that way just to lose in the final,” said Berthier, who won the showpiece 15-4.

“Kudos to my teammate Maxine. She fenced really well today too, I’m glad we both managed to secure first and second,” she added.

Claiming the title here was also extra meaningful for Berthier, who took to social media earlier in the Games to proudly champion taekwondo athlete Diyanah Aqidah Dian Khudhairi – who alongside Nicholas Khaw on Dec 10 won Singapore’s first gold medal in Thailand in the mixed recognised poomsae pair event – and sprint queen Shanti Pereira, who completed a historic sprint double-double on the track.

“Diyanah from taekwondo, she’s a close friend and I really look up to her,” said Berthier.

“She’s super determined, motivated, and she’s one of the most hard-working athletes I ever met.

“And Shanti, I look up to her as a big sister. So I’m glad I could join them. I took their wins as inspiration and visualised myself being on that podium with that gold medal.”

Earlier on Dec 17, Simon Lee won a joint-bronze in the men’s individual epee after losing 15-5 to Vietnam’s eventual champion Nguyen Phuoc Den in the semi-finals.

Berthier’s win takes the fencers’ tally to four golds at these Games.

A day earlier, they made it three wins out of three with golds from Juliet Heng (women’s individual sabre), Raphael Tan (men’s individual foil gold) and Elle Koh (women’s individual epee).

In 2023, Singapore finished as the Games’ top fencing nation with

a record seven golds in 12 categories

, emerging victorious in both the men’s and women’s epee and foil individual events. The women also clinched an individual sabre gold, along with the epee and foil team titles.